The beast tamer was drenched in sweat. At a moment like this, did he dare say no?
"I-I'll talk! I'll talk! O-Our ship is docked on the other side of the island. Th-the treasure and the sea chart were both taken ashore by Captain Buggy—th-there are a lot of people over there! O-Our captain is a D-Devil Fruit user too! Beating him won't be easy, y-yeah… S-So h-how about… how about I-I go fetch the treasure and the chart f-for you?"
Everyone present immediately saw through him.
This old man just wanted an excuse to run back to his crew, then bring reinforcements to wipe them out.
Such a clumsy lie—who would believe that?
"Oh, that's great. Sorry to trouble you! Turns out you're a good person, Uncle~"
One sentence.
One sentence instantly broke Zoro's calm, right as he held a blade coolly against the man's neck.
"Luffy!?"
Even if he was incredibly innocent, shouldn't he be able to see the problem here?! What an idiot captain!
But looking at Luffy's expression, he was completely serious.
Lin Bei also felt it was insanely outrageous. But thinking about it carefully, this was exactly the kind of thing Luffy would do.
It looked like he just lacked experience, was too trusting, and hadn't been beaten down by reality yet.
But in truth—
It was fearlessness.
Luffy once said something along the lines: Since I decided to become a pirate, I have the resolve to lay my life on the line!
Perhaps he didn't necessarily believe this man, but rather, he just didn't care.
If you bring it back, fine. If you don't and bring people to fight me instead, I don't care about that either.
Either way—he'd just smash through everything.
And if I can't win and you kill me, well then I die. The moment I decided to go out to sea, I already gambled my life.
No matter the outcome, I will accept it gladly, because this is my adventure.
That sounds nice and all, but Lin Bei got the feeling that right now, Zoro just wanted to end Luffy's adventure...
"Zoro-sensei, relax, relax. It's not that serious. Against trash like this, we'll wipe the floor with them anyway. Better he takes a beating from reality now than later."
In Lin Bei's view, if Luffy were alone, this mindset would be fine.
But he wasn't alone.
He was a captain. He was leading a group of people, and not everyone was as strong as he was.
To minimize unnecessary losses, he had to make Luffy understand that he couldn't always approach everything in a straight line. Sometimes taking a detour doesn't mean you're losing your way.
Zoro sighed inwardly.
Joining this crew had been far too impulsive.
At least there was one sane person on board.
For now, he could only hope Luffy was naive… and not just stupid.
With experience, maybe he'd learn.
Zoro kicked the old white-haired man, sending him flying up. Bowing and scraping, the old man trotted off all the way toward Buggy's current base.
His lion, Richie, was left behind.
Standing as tall as a small villa, it usually exuded the majesty of a King of Beasts. But now, it displayed a very human-like, fawning smile. It stood up on two legs and started performing acrobatics for Lin Bei and Luffy...
Finding it amusing, Lin Bei told it to learn how to meow.
The old man, who hadn't run far yet, shot Lin Bei a dark, malicious glare. In his heart, he thought, My Richie is the fiercest of beasts! How could he possibly meow like a house cat?! Just wait until I bring Captain Buggy over to blow you all into pieces!
"Meow~"
The old man stumbled. He actually did it!
The old white-haired man stumbled. He actually did it!
His fierce beast had actually learned to meow!
At that moment, his mental image of Richie shattered completely.
The old man could only pin his hopes on Captain Buggy wiping out these foolish bastards. As for the guy who made Richie meow... he was going to hand Richie a whip and have Richie whip him to death to vent his hatred.
Hmph!
Thinking such insidious thoughts, the old man ran even faster.
Soon, he reached the rooftop of a building, which served as the Buggy Pirates' base in Orange Town.
He ran while shouting, his face twisted: "Captain Buggy! Enemy attack! Enemy attack! There's a group trying to steal your Grand Line chart—and they even said we should serve them and host a banquet!"
On the rooftop stood a tent.
Inside it sat Buggy the Clown.
Hearing this, Buggy stepped out—and immediately kicked the man.
"You bastard! Are you mocking my nose!?"
In this world, there were always lunatics obsessed with certain things—so much so that they'd mishear everything.
Interestingly, those lunatics often ended up among the strongest.
Meanwhile, normal people… stayed average.
"I'm not, Captain Buggy!" the man cried, grabbing Buggy's leg—clearly used to this treatment.
"It's those outsiders! They mocked your red nose! They left Richie behind like a circus animal, making it perform! They even want your sea chart!"
Buggy's expression darkened.
"Oh? Then why did they let you come back?"
The old white-haired man broke into a cold sweat.
"They... This is a provocation towards you! Their implication is that even if they let me come back for reinforcements, they aren't afraid. This is pure contempt for you!"
These words thoroughly enraged Buggy.
"Point out the direction! Men, load the Buggy Ball! Let's see how they mock me after they're turned into ashes!"
The crew quickly obeyed, loading the special cannonball.
Then—
BOOM.
The shot tore through a row of buildings, flattening them completely.
The impact of this shot looked almost like Admiral Kizaru firing off an ultimate attack.
An entire row of the town's buildings was pierced straight through! Completely leveled!
Buggy laughed uproariously on the rooftop.
"This is the fate of anyone who provokes the great Buggy!"
...
"Cough—what insane firepower… Good thing we moved in advance. Otherwise, we'd be dead."
Nami coughed from the smoke, trembling.
She had never seen an attack like that.
Not even fish-men could do something like this.
At this moment, only one thought was in her mind: Thank you, Lin Bei!
If he hadn't spoken up beforehand and told them to move away from their original spot, their whole crew would have been wiped out right there.
Luffy patted his chest.
"Ah~ almost died."
But looking at his expression, there wasn't a hint of fear toward death.
Zoro started scolding immediately.
"It's all your fault, you idiot Captain! If we hadn't dodged that, we'd have been totally wiped out!"
Lin Bei brushed the dust off his clothes.
"Relax. We're fine, aren't we? But Luffy—remember this. You're not alone anymore. You have companions who trust you and follow you. If we're willing to entrust our lives to you, then you have to protect us. You can't just act solely on your own whims."
This speech was the entire reason Lin Bei had indulged Luffy's naive actions earlier—to give him a reminder that he was no longer alone.
As for Lin Bei—
His joining the Straw Hat Pirates came with a very clear motive: he wanted someone who could protect him on the days when he rolled useless superpowers.
As for bonds?
If a few days were enough to forge them, then those bonds were shallow.
Harsh, maybe.
But this—
This was reality.